My C64 pick's - Various Games

Nice work. Arnie is a fantastic game. Really good 3D style play field and graphics. There's also a sequel to it. Reminds me of Contra only better in some ways.

Neuromancer has a digitized soundtrack of a Devo song at the start from one of their albums, which is pretty incredible when you think of the fact that digitized audio was pretty new and rare back in the day, but the SID chip was able to get the job done. People don't realize Devo was doing sound tracks for games back in the day or even licensing the rights for others to digitize their actual music.

Which reminds me, I think the first two games I heard digitized audio from on a C64 was Space Taxi and Castle Wolfenstein. It blew my mind because even in the arcade it was rare to hear digitized audio. Both great games btw.

The SID actually has provisions to sample audio and digitize it via a analog to digital circuit if memory serves me on that. I think it was a hidden obscure feature nobody knew about at first, and this might have even been the very first computer to have such a thing.

Can't remember how but isn't there a pin on one of the external connectors on the 64 that gives a pathway for the SID to sample analog input to digitize, like perhaps on the cartridge port or maybe it was via a pin on the video output connector?

I think my first time ever hearing digitized audio was Berzerk in the arcade, which btw there's also an excellent port for on the C64.

Btw, this reminds me of a friend who was building a scanner using a simple optical sensor that he was going to mount on the print head of his C64 to digitize pictures by loading the picture into the printer so the sensor could scan it. At the time I knew of no picture scanners existing for any home computer so it was pretty mind blowing. Don't know if he ever finished it but I remember him saying obviously it would only be able to digitize in black and white with simple ones or zeros input to the RS232 port for ink existing or it just being a blank spot on the page. The circuit was fairly simple. Just a light sensing transistor mounted to the print head that are used for things like motion lights so they'll come on at dark. I'm sure it also used a few resistors and whatever so the logic was there to send a one or a zero to the rs232 port. This seems like a great cheap kit somebody should sell so C64 owners can start scanning pics into their machine.

Added "Scramble Infinity" to the list. Great game and graphics!!! Must have!

Yes I did see that! I'll add it to the list. Cant say it was my fav game but a c64 (and VIC) classic.

Amiga emulation is next. I personally never had one, my friends did and it was a great machine. I took it for a test drive on the maxi and I was having issues with the controller not responding. There were some excellent games for it and I think that will complete this device (for me). VIC, C64 and Amiga all in one. Cant ask for anything more.

Cool. Do you mean the classic Sub Hunt game for the 2600 orginally? If so classic game. A buddy came over and that's all he wanted to play on RetroPie. Fun game.

Cool. Btw there's a guy doing remakes of some classic Atari 2600 games on the 64, and he's such a purest that he's not enhancing graphics or sound too much to lose the flavor of the original. He even is keeping in original bugs people used to cheat in the games. BastichB did an interview of the guy this past year. Which reminds me, River Raid on the 64 is a great game that was also great on the 2600.

Btw too, check into a game called Empire War Game Of The Century. It's a Risk like war strategy game. I would literally stay up all night playing it on my Amiga. It's very addictive. I hear there's also a C64 port but I haven't tried it yet. Way I hear it I think there's even a guy to this day doing updates of it for various platforms

BTW one more thing... There was a game for I believe the C64 but might have been the Amiga, where it was the best pacman clone I ever saw, but I just remember the game was sideways on the screen and so you had to flip the monitor on its side to play it. The reason they did that had something to with with the horizontal and vertical resolution or perspective so it more accurately displayed the graphics on the screen. Still trying to track down that game and it's name cuz never saw nothing like it before.

Yes I believe that's it! Thanks! Was bugging me to try to remember that game and it's name!

Another classic is Moon Patrol. One of the best arcade ports ever made for the 64 I used to play for hours. Beachhead? Yeah the audio while shooting the approaching planes was epic, and Raid Over Moscow, loved the flying in the hangar stuff.

Far as pacman games go, there's one for the Vic20 Commodore released called Jelly Monsters or something like that. It was originally I believe called pacman in Japan but commodore didn't have the legal rights to call it pacman here so they changed the name. It's a great pacman port for the Vic20.

Also, check out Pitfall for the 64 and Vic20. Great game. The Vic version is a more recent port and uses raster interrupts to push it's graphics.

Oh and another great 2600 port for the 64 is HERO.

The original C64 was the exact same case dimensions as the Vic20 but later Commodore lowered the height of the C64 case a little. I saw a very prominent Commodore video creator mistakenly say he wondered why the maxi was using Vic20 case dimensions. Lol. Shocked he didn't know the C64 originally used those dimensions early on.

Do you have the Mega or Ultimate Cart or whatever it's called for the Vic20? Way I hear it that's a must have for it, featuring memory expansion and a bunch of games along with a front end file loader. They still make that thing today or variations of it.

Yeah I never had a Vic 20 but I remember as a kid playing Omega Race on it at the local Kmart. Great port and very good vector style graphics for the Vic20. I enjoy playing Vic20 games today because I love seeing all the Retro hardware, especially Commodore stuff, pushed to it's limits. Btw did you know Elon Musk's first computer he ever used was a Vic20? Cool stuff.

For a good video on that Vic mega or ultimate or whatever cart check out 8 Bit Guys channel.

For a good video on Hero for the 2600 and C64 check out Metal Jesus Rock's channel. He's a big fan of the game and of the C64.

Look into the Pi1541 for true drive emulation and other features. There's also a cartridge now that contains the Pi and Eoyx fast load so you don't have to put the Pi1541 into a external case and provide power for it. Just remember not to use the original power supply they tend to fail from age and destroy the chips. Also the Easy Flash V3 cartridge is a must have, or the Ultimate II+ is the best but most expensive add on that covers everything.

Far as the cart for the Vic20, I'll dig up that review and post it by 8 bit guy. it's a very good video. Edit: Posted that video in the Vic20 forum. Great video and awesome looking cartridge.

If you're talking the original 1541 drive in the big case it has the power supply built in and they supposedly don't tend to fail like the C64 power supply does cuz the drive's power supply isn't encased in epoxy which tended to overheat the linear voltage regulator and over voltage the chips on the 64 these days due to age. You only need to use a standard kettle style PC power cord to plug it in.

I'd just go with a modern storage device then. A real disk drive on the Vic or 64 is pretty useless these days unless you have a large library of disks to use. Some of these aftermarket storage devices have the ability to even reproduce the disk drive sound such as the Pi 1541 so you get the whole experience. And you can either fast load stuff or do it at 1541 drive speed to also get the same vibe from it. The Pi 1541 will totally emulate a 1541 drive for full software and copy protection stuff even as will the 1541 Ultimate. The Sd2IEC won't, but for stuff that's not working you can often find versions of the game for the SD2IEC that were changed to work with it.

I'd also look into getting the Easy Flash 3 cartridge to compliment the Pi1541 if you ever get a C64 to use it on too down the road. Both together will pretty much give you all the major features of the 1541 Ultimate II+, which is the most expensive but best aftermarket add on for the 64. The Easy Flash V3 even has games written specifically to take advantage of it's memory bank switching, etc., such as Prince of Persia. An amazing game that you'd think you were playing on the Amiga.

Very cool. Btw a few channels I think you'll love for Commodore stuff: 8 bit guy, Retro Recipes, Nostalgia Nerd, Retro Gaming Nation, 8 Bit Show And Tell, Amiga 10 Minute Retro Cast, Dan Wood, The Retro Hour, John Hancock, Retro Man Cave, BastichB.

Each has their own strengths. Nostalgia Nerd this past year did a review of the upcoming Mega65. Amazing what Commodore was working on. The ultimate 8 bit machine with graphics as good or better than some 16 bit stuff. Retro Recipes does some really amazing videos. High production value since he worked in Star Wars and other stuff.

I said that, but maybe somebody else did too. Lol. Oh another good channel is Mrs Mad Lemon.